#6: Catalan Film Heritage

The Filmoteca de Catalunya has existed since 1981. A film archive was established in 1992, becoming a member of FIAF. Since then, the Filmoteca combines programming of films and exhibitions with the preservation and restoration of films, with a particular emphasis on Catalan cinema.

For this session, Pablo will focus on the collection of Pere Portabella, a unique figure in the history of Catalan cinema. He was a producer of landmark Spanish films such as Luis Buñuel's Viridiana, author of a fascinating filmography intertwining radical politics and avant-garde aesthetics, and a political activist, from the clandestine anti-Franco militancy to the construction of new democratic institutions after the dictator's death. 

In 2025, the filmmaker entrusted the Filmoteca de Catalunya with his entire film and document archive: a vast collection comprising his complete filmography, unfinished projects and rushes, as well as paper records of his artistic and political trajectory. Between 2026 and 2027, coinciding with the filmmaker's centennial, a programme titled "Acció Portabella", a constellation of screenings, encounters, and exhibitions, will activate the Portabella archive worldwide.

This talk will explore the challenges and opportunities presented to the Filmoteca by this archival and curatorial endeavor. How to celebrate the enduring legacy of Portabella without falling into nostalgia? How to bring to the present the political and artistic potential of his completed and imagined film projects?

The session will be moderated by Maral Mohsenin, director Collection & Knowledge sharing at Eye Filmmuseum, and will conclude with a screening of Portabella's film Umbracle (1972).

Guest

Pablo La Parra Pérez is the director of the Filmoteca de Catalunya. He holds a PhD in Cinema and Cultural Studies from New York University. As the former Head of Research at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, he led the Zinemaldia 70: All Possible Histories project, which resulted in the research, preservation, and accessibility of the archive of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. His academic work has appeared internationally, and he has curated programmes and exhibitions at Artium, the CCCB, and Tabakalera.